Mass Assortment
by MidnightWriter99
Summary: Collection of various mini-fills for the Kmeme. Fill 12: Moments - Sometimes Shepard just really needs a hug. Shakarian.
1. Other Very Important Differences

**Other Very Important Differences**

A number of Shepard's team moved through the mess grabbing various items of food. They'd been out on mission for most of the day and the rest of the crew were in bed.

Garrus gave a side glance at Jack as he went to join Thane and Tali at one of the tables. The biotic was sitting up on one of the benches, nudging Grunt with her elbow as he ate standing against the counter.

She looked far too pleased with herself.

"What are you up to?" Garrus asked, taking a bit of his dextro-paste.

"Nothing." She grinned. "Grunt just has a question for you, that's all."

The other members of the team looked over, waiting for the usally quiet Krogan to speak.

"I want to know." Grunt started. "What's it like to have sex with a monkey?"

Garrus choked on his food as Tali started laughing beside him. Thane was trying exceptionally hard to keep a straight face.

"Not monkey." Mordin corrected as he walked back past the Krogan. "Millions of years of evolution between primates and humans. Distinct physiological, developmental, behavioural and morphological changes from 'monkeys'. Krogan interest in human-turian intercourse somewhat surprising."

Jack almost fell off the counter, shaking with laughter as Mordin left their sight and headed for the elevator.

"You still haven't answered the question, Garrus." Tali laughed, giving the coughing Turian a pat on the back.

"Traitor." Garrus shot her a glare. "I'm not telling any of you _anything._"

"No fun." Jack booed at him.

"I must admit, even I am intrigued as to what your answer would be." Thane chuckled from across the table.

"I can't believe this." Garrus groaned, pushing his food away.

"Typical turian." Grunt taunted. "Doesn't even have enough of a quad to answer a simple question, bet he doesn't know how it even works."

The others looked at Garrus as his mandibles sat tight against his face, finally looking angry. "You want to know what it's like?" He almost growled at the Krogan. "It's better than any of your breeding requests, and far more frequent."

Grunt just _laughed. _

"Hook, line and sinker." Jack grinned at the Krogan.

"Jack." Thane warned, looking back to the biotic and then towards the wall of separating the mess and the elevator. Her grin was stifled slightly as she followed Thanes line of sight.

"I'll take that as a compliment Garrus." Shepard grinned from where she was leaning against the wall. "But Grunt, I think if you really want to know you should get Jack to help you find out."

"Oh hell no, Shepard. _Hell. No_."

* * *

><p><strong>Prompt:<strong> _How many other mammalian species are there in the galactic community? Seems like a lots of them are reptilian/avian etc. What are some stereotypes other races have about humans, being mammals and all? I imagine Shep's alien LI being bombarded with questions from all the other non-human crew members. Bonus points if Grunt asks 'what's it like to have sex with a monkey?' Extra bonus points if Mordin corrects him._


	2. The Bitterness of Failure

**The Bitterness of Failure**

"Vakarian Officer. " Legion interrupted Garrus' train of thought as he sniped the last merc from their vantage point, the batarian's head exploded onto the filthy wall behind him. Omega hadn't changed. "We have detected exactly four instances of hesitation in the past two hours. "

The turians face plates shifted, shooting the geth a suspicious look. "What's you point?"

"Usual efficiency down by ten point five six percent." Legion explained. "If deterioration continues critical errors may occur."

"Ok, I get it." Garrus waved the AI off, before looking back through his scope. "We're almost done here anyway, Shepard should be in contact soon."

"We did not intend to reprimand." Legion said again. "We are unclear as to why inefficiency is occurring. No physical anomalies have been detected."

"It's not a… physical anomaly." Garrus sighed before deciding the answer him. "I lost a lot of people here, it brings back bad memories. That's all. "

Garrus looked over to his Geth companion when he got no response. The light in his head was flickering, the mechanics around his face articulating up and down. Most of the team had come to identify that has Legions 'thinking face'. _But why is he gathering data now?_

"Archangel. Team terminated and presumed dead. Partially incorrect data. " Legion rattled off. "Death, organic concept. Equivalent to catastrophic hardware failure and loss of critical data."

"Yeah, catastrophic failure." Garrus replied bitterly. "Why?"

The main light of Legion's face looked almost quizzically at him. "We are not clear as to what you are inquiring."

"Why did you want to know that?"

"We wish to understand."

* * *

><p>Prompt: Garrus + Legion - the bitterness of failure<p> 


	3. Unexpected Allies

**Unexpected Allies**

"What the _fuck_!" Aria exclaimed as the group of turians and humans she had just knocked back _again_ began to get to their feet once more. She had to have broken most of the bones in their bodies with her biotics by now.

Just as Aria's body began to glow with biotics once more the heads of the humans closest to her exploded in a mess of rotten flesh.

"You have to crush their heads!" Aria's eyes darted behind the group of rotting aliens, finally seeing the person who was yelling to her.

Aria swung into action, pushing her biotics onto the attackers nearest to her. A sickening, cracking sound emitting from them as she grasped her hands, directing her biotics to close in around their heads.

Her mysterious helper was doing the same, a loud shot from her pistol drowning out the loud moans of their assailants as she switched between her biotics and weapons before they were all unmoving on the ground.

"And who are you? " Aria asked as the young asari holstered her pistol.

"Aria T'Loak, I presume? " She said back. "Liara T'Soni."

"Ah yes, I believe you caused a bit of trouble on my station a few years back Doctor T'Soni. " Aria gave her a knowing smirk. "What are you looking to get out of helping me?"

"I'm in the business of information now." Liara told her. "A group of salarians have been experimenting with biochemical warfare, this outbreak is the result of their research. Their data is highly valuable to me."

"I'll make you a deal." Aria crossed her arms over in front of her chest, reassessing the situation. "I'm rather low on associates right now." She commented, looking at the decaying bodies at their feet. "So if you help me save my station and fix this fucking mess, that data is all yours."

"Deal." Liara replied, removing her extra shotgun from her back and tossing it to the other asari. "However, you betray me and you will look like your friends there." She said, motioning to the floor.

Aria gave her a short laugh. "Double cross _me_ and you'll look worse than them."

* * *

><p>Prompt: Liara + Aria – zombie apocalypse<p> 


	4. Inappropriate Assertions

**Inappropriate Assertions**

"Hey there." Shepard addressed the young officer with a quick smile. "I'm after Captain Baily, any idea where I can find him?"

The turians mandibles clicked a few times as he looked up towards Shepard and Garrus, eyes staring intently on the human. "The Captain is in interrogation at the moment, ma'am."

"That's fine." Shepard replied. "Could you please tell him to contact Commander Shepard when he's done?"

The turian just looked at her gobsmacked. "_The _Shepard? The one who took down Saren?"

Garrus' low laugh was stifled as Shepard sent her elbow back towards his stomach with one swift movement.

"Yeah, that Shepard." She replied slowly. "Look could you just-"

"Did you really drive a mako through a mass relay?" The officer interrupted again.

"Yes, but-"

"-And then took down that Reaper? I know we're not supposed to believe that story but-"

Shepard held up a hand to try and make him stop, her face now coloured with a pink tinge. "Look, this really isn't the best time or place for this."

The officers face plates shifted as he leant closer over the desk. "Would you like to discuss it with me later?"

That was a little less funny to Garrus.

"That is enough." He said before Shepard could reply.

The officer finally noted Garrus' presence behind the Commander. "I don't think the lady needs a bodyguard."

"Boyfriend, not bodyguard." Garrus snapped back. "Shouldn't you be sending that message to your Captain before he comes back and finds you've been chatting up women instead of doing your job?"

The younger turian was sent into a different kind of stunned silence this time, quickly hitting the keys on his terminal before looking back to Shepard. "Captain Baily will contact you soon, Commander."

"Thank you." She replied, before nodding at Garrus, the two of them walking out of main C-Sec office.

"Cocky little-" Shepard laughed as the rest of the sentence became untranslatable turian slang.

"Reminds me of someone I met here a while back." Shepard said, a smirk crossing her face.

"That was below the belt, Jane."

"Only because it's a little bit true." She laughed, leaning towards him and pressing a kiss to the side of his face. "Come on, we can probably go grab those Viper mods before we have to come back."

"Sounds good." He said as Shepard tugged at his arm and linking it with her own as they made their way down into the wards.

* * *

><p>I don't generally go the way of 'overprotective Garrus', but I wanted to see if I could write this in a believable manner.<p>

_Prompt: The Citadel. Shepard, Garrus and a young, enthusiastic (Turian) C-Sec operative with a really bad case of hero-worship. At first, Garrus is amused (especially if The Almighty Reaper Conqueror and Vanquisher of Evil aka his darling Shepard is embarrassed at such open display of fangirling...err fanboying?) but as the conversation continues, it becomes clear to our favourite sniper he needs to step in and let the youngster know that Shepard is off limits. Extra double winning points with whipped cream on top if the whole thing ends with just-the-right-amount-of-possessive-Garrus-lovin', but minor display of fluffy affection will make this OP happy too._


	5. Nisroch

This was for the Garrus!Troll we had a few weeks ago on the kmeme. Shine on you crazy diamond.

Prompt: Since when did giant, stoned faced birds become attractive? & some of the lovely thread comments.

* * *

><p><strong>Nisroch<strong>

"Since when did giant, stoned faced birds become attractive?" Shepard pondered as she pulled up the next planet for scanning. "Because it's starting to impede on my ability to stay angry."

"You're asking the wrong person, Shepard." Joker replied over their open comm. "I'm going to regret asking this, but what did Garrus do to piss you off?"

"He keeps coming up with different ways to call me squishy." Shepard answered over EDIs commentary of her mining activities. "It's getting old."

Joker snorted a laugh. "That's it?"

"By me, I mean mostly my boobs. " She clarified. "I don't think he should find them as amusing as he does, Joker."

"Boobs are nice to look at, fun to play with - and yes," Joker stated, "They are squishy. It's a valid point Commander, why do you think everyone finds asari so damn attractive?"

"Fine." Shepard conceded. "But I still don't appreciate it."

Joker finally shook his head and opened up another channel to their comm. "Garrus." He called.

"Joker, don't you dare!" Shepard yelled across the empty CIC.

"Girls get that their boobs are squishy ok? You don't need to repeat it. " he explained.

_"Are we seriously having this conversation or have I been looking at these algorithms for too long?" _Garrus' voice answered.

"We're seriously having this conversation." Joker answered. "So knock it off, Nisroch."

"I'll knock you off that seat in a minute Joker."

_"What the hell is a nisroch?" _Garrus asked, getting cut off by Joker before he got an answer as Shepard came up behind the pilot and smacked the back of his head.

"Really?" She seethed.

"I had to listen to your TMI about your bird man, I get to have some fun." Joker defended. "Now go deal with it."


	6. Reaper Survival Guide

**Galactic Daily News – 'Survival Guide' Released After Reaper Invasion of Earth**

The anonymous publisher, going by the name ''Maximillian Brooks'' has released his 'Reaper Survival Guide' e-book free from the extranet this week, gaining four billion downloads in the first twenty four hours from the initial release, with numbers continuing to climb astronomically throughout council space. The book contains detailed images, information and strategies for survival against the abrupt attacks on earth.

Brooks released a statement on his public extranet site after obvious questions arose with the quick release of his guide, only two weeks after the initial Reaper contact on Earth.

"_The knowledge of the Reapers existence is not new. References to them can be found in several cultures both past and present throughout the galaxy. Again, this is not new information._

_I have been working on this e-book and application for almost three years. The existence of the 'zombies' (or 'husks' as they're called by the military) accompanying the Reaper occupation of Earth are also not new to the galactic stage, they have been sighted on numerous locations around the galaxy since the initial attack of Eden Prime over two years ago. _

_While the Alliance and Citadel Council may have dismissed both the existence of these husks and the Reapers, anyone with more than public access to information could see that the claims made by humanities first Spectre, Commander Shepard, after the battle of the Citadel were in fact not exaggerated._

_I have made this book as accessible as possible to the general public. Anyone with a connection to the extranet and an omnitool can download it for free. The concepts for survival and self-defence are by no means new. The classic notion of 'shoot it in the head' to kill a zombie? Similar procedure is needed to protect yourself from a husk. Alien invasion, synthetic monsters, zombies? All apart of human culture and media for centuries, and has been the perfect to produce and distribute information by a familiar means. _

_I will be sending out additional patches of information for as long as possible."_

The Alliance were unavailable to comment on Brooks' claims.

* * *

><p>Prompt: Historically, humans have always been told of robot overlords, zombie apocalypses, alien invasions, the occult happenings, and other such, through its mass media. It has also been shown on how to beat, or survive each and every one of these instances.<p>

So, wouldn't you know it, here comes a bunch of alien robot wannabe-overlords that is invading using mind control and zombies.

Humanity knows what to do.

Just a general request seeing how over-prepared humanity had been because of media influences.


	7. Found

**Found**

Garrus could remember the day he'd met Jane Shepard. He'd barely slept after Pallin had assigned him the investigation on Saren, giving him just over the fifteen hours it took the Normandy to arrive at the Citadel.

He remembered meeting them for the first time. The looks on Kaidan and Ashley's faces as they looked up at the council chambers, that smile Shepard had given him as she nodded in return to his greeting (he later got to know that grin as the one that surfaced when she was about cause trouble).

Within the next few hours, his entire life had changed.

"Sir." He barely heard the C-Sec officer who had finally approached him. "You can't loiter here Sir, new security policy."

Garrus didn't say a word. He was stuck, looking up at the councils chambers; it looked like the battle had never happened. Just the way they wanted it - _like it never happened._

Like everything Shepard did never happened.

He still didn't know how she did it. Shepard took down any obstacle in her path, she took people, anyone, and she made them one cohesive unit, a team-

A family.

_To hell with the council, with C-Sec - and all their disrespectful bullshit._Garrus finally decided as he turned to leave. Shepard wasn't there, she wasn't coming back.

And he would have given anything to see that stupid grin on her face one more time.

_"Commander Shepard? Garrus Vakarian. I was the officer in charge of the C-Sec investigation into Saren."_

It had been almost three years since she'd stood on this spot with Ashley and Kaidan, finding a younger, and defiantly hotter headed Garrus Vakarian desperately trying to get more time to get more time to find evidence on Saren.

Wishing her better luck than he'd had.

Now? She had little no idea where Garrus was. Luckily he and Joker had exchanged a few messages, so they knew was on Palavan, but the turians had switched all communications to military priority when the Reapers had hit. As Joker had pointed out, the only who could have gotten them a working channel in a timely manner was Garrus.

"Shit." Shepard swore to herself. She was already late for the meeting with the council, but couldn't shake the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

She exhaled slowly. _Time to focus. Garrus knows how to take care of himself Jane._ She told herself. _Despite the contrary rocket damage to the face._

Taking one last look at the quiet, untouched garden before pushing herself to move forward, leaving that memory behind.

_"That's right, he was asking for more time to finish his report, seems like he was close to finding something on Saren."_

_"Any idea where we could find him?"_

"Vakarian, Sir." Garrus was brought back to reality by the urgent voice over his comm. "The Normandy has made contact with us. We've given them clearance for landing zone seven. We're directing Commander Shepard to General Corinthus."

"Thank you." He said back quickly making a turn for his new destination, finally feeling a sense of relief.

She'd gotten off earth, She was alive - and Commander Jane Shepard always had a habit of finding him when things were going to hell.

Hopefully she'd had better luck than he'd had so far, because despite everything he couldn't wait to see that stupid grin on her face again.

* * *

><p>This was a really fun prompt to interpret and write.<p>

Prompt:

_Now the prompt is a song that keeps playing on my radio. I don't really care if it's about the song or anything but I figure it could give inspiration sense I can kind of see Garrus doing this after Shepard's death and him losing her. Again. The song is "The Man Who Can't Be Moved" by The Script. Here's some parts of it..._

_Going Back to the corner where I first saw you_  
><em>Gonna camp in my sleeping bag I'm not gonna move<em>  
><em>Got some words on cardboard, got your picture in my hand<em>  
><em>Saying, "If you see this girl can you tell her where I am? "<em>

_Policeman says, "Son you can't stay here"_  
><em>I said, "There's someone I'm waiting for if it's a day, a month, a year"<em>  
><em>Gotta stand my ground even if it rains or snows<em>  
><em>If she changes her mind this is the first place she will go<em>

_Cause if one day you wake up and find that you're missing me_  
><em>And your heart starts to wonder where on this earth I could be<em>  
><em>Thinking maybe you'll come back here to the place that we'd meet<em>  
><em>And you'll see me waiting for you on the corner of the street<em>  
><em>So I'm not moving<em>


	8. Simple Interests

**Simple Interests**

Jane Shepard let a smile cross her face as her favourite fish swam close against the glass of the fish tank. She pushed herself onto her tip toes as he swam up higher. "Hey." She said, tapping the glass. "I thought we were having a moment."

"Jane, stop harassing the fish."

"I'll annoy Mr Bubbles as much as I like." Shepard called back to the turian lying in her bed as she followed the fish across the tank, the extra height giving her a nice view. She realised she probably looked ridiculous making faces at her fish in her tank and undies.

"Wait, you can do that without the shoes?" Garrus asked.

"Do what?" Shepard replied, "Stand on my tip-toes? Yeah I don't need heels to hold my feet like this."

She moved away from the tank, still holding her feet in position as she walked back down the stairs in her cabin, Garrus watching her intently.

"Intrigued?"

"Maybe." Garrus laughed.

"I can do a good impression of you." Shepard told him with a smirk, bending her knees slightly as she stalked back across to the bed, carefully crossing one leg over the other as she'd seen him do many times as they'd snuck into cover.

"I do _not_ walk like that." Garrus disputed.

Shepard didn't bother to wipe the amused look off her face as she made a swift jump onto the bed, still managing to balance herself on the balls of her feet. "Yeah you do." She said back, looking down at his unamused face.

Garrus didn't miss a beat as he made a quick swipe at her feet so she fell back down beside him. "Your impression is a gross, inaccurate exaggeration."

"I dare you to watch vid footage of yourself." Shepard prodded him as she propped herself back up with her elbows. "_Dare _you."

"I have more interesting things to watch at the moment." Garrus drawled back to her.

Shepard just laughed and moved in to kiss him, pressing her body up closer as she felt talons brush through her hair, coming down to trace along her jawline.

"You and your sick fascination with aliens." Shepard whispered as they broke apart.

Shepard couldn't stop laughing when he just god damn _growled _at her and started licking and nipping at the part of her neck he _knew _was ticklish.

Payback was always the best kind of bitch when it came to Garrus.

* * *

><p><strong>Prompt:<strong>_ What with turians having digitigrade feet and humans walking naturally flat on theirs, Garrus is confused and intruiged one evening when he sees Shep standing on her tip-toes to reach something off the top shelf next to her desk. Cue Shep showing him she can walk around on her tip-toes too. Fluff and sexytimes ensue._

_Note: Not foot fetish stuff, just difference-in-our-bodies cuteness._

_Mega bonus points for it taking place AFTER the reaper invasion has been sucessfully dealt with, because happy ending fluff makes everything better 3_


	9. Krogan Interruptus

**Krogan Interruptus**

_'Just quick trip the battery'_ she'd told herself after another god damn exhausting day of attempting to keep the peace aboard the ship.

But a few jokes and one "_Did I mention that I missed you?" _later she found herself being pulled closer to her turian. Garrus hands rested in her waist as she wrapped her hands around his neck, drawing his face towards her own and pressing her lips against his.

Shepard earned a low growl from her partner as she ran her fingertips down the back of his neck, tongue teasing at the edge of his mouth –

Before they both heard the familiar sound of the battery door sweeping open, the two of them quickly breaking apart and looking towards the visitor.

"Shepard." The Krogan greeted without missing a beat.

"Wrex." She replied, leaning back against the console behind her. "Still haven't learnt how to knock?"

"Krogan only know how to knock things down." Garrus interjected from beside her. "What do you want Wrex?"

The krogan just l_aughed _before shooting a grin at Shepard. "If I'd known you had a thing for men with scars I'd have made a move years ago-"

"_Wrex._"

He just laughed again before continuing. "_You_ still owe me those military files, Garrus."

"I'll leave you two to it then." Shepard announced as she gave Garrus' hand a quick squeeze and made a move for the door. "Play nice, boys."

Even as the door shut behind her she could still hear Wrexs (now far more unamused) and muffled voice.

_"And now I owe your damn Primarch fifty credits as well."_

* * *

><p><em>Prompt: I'm looking for silly fluff. SPOILER: Remember the scene where Shepard catches Garrus and Tali kissing in the main battery? I'd like a scene instead with FemShep and Garrus. Anon can decide who catches them. Garrus and Shepard try to explain themselves but fail miserably. Garrus especially can't stop inadvertently making innuendos. Eventually, he's just on a roll and begins making innuendos because he enjoys making FemShep blush. General hilarity ensues. Sexytimes can follow or not follow-up to Anon. Thanks in advance!<br>_

_Follow up comment: I vote for Wrex catching them (maybe making a comment that if he knew Shepard was into men with scars he'd have made a move on her)  
><em>


	10. The Alpha and the Omega

It's quicker this time, the familiar fastenings on her clothes come easily loose, left in a forgotten mess on the floor as the Asari pushes her back onto bed.

"Aria." She groans as the other woman puts her lips to her neck, her fingers holding her waist tight as she joins her.

The energy between them begins to crackle, as the blue glow of biotics surrounds them, the turian pushing back with her own energy, sending an accidental spike of pain down the Asaris side as her hands touch her purple skin.

Aria smirks, Nyreen had been the only one in a long time have the confidence to try and match her.

"Careful" she chides with a kiss to the other womans shoulder, the rest of her criticism dying in her throat as Nyreen's hands are on her again, the energy coursing through her body in a more than pleasant way now, unable to stifle a moan as she leans into her.

Aria smiles again at Nyreen's smug, low laugh - eyes darkening as she pulls back, hands gently cupping the turians face as she asks for Nyreen to join her in eternity.

* * *

><p>Unpromted.<p> 


	11. Is That Anyway

"Spirits, _why?_"

Shepard held back a laugh as she moved her hips slowly upwards again, mercilessly leaving him aching below her.

"This is cruel and unusual torture." Garrus groaned at her.

"Is that anyway..." she said, pressing a kiss to his lips before lowering herself back down in the same painfully slow motion, "to speak to the person who's getting you out of a very embarrassing visit to the medbay?"

"I'm not sure-" He groaned again as she continued, "What the appropriate way to speak in this situation is."

"Then remember this." She stopped purposefully, ignoring the grip he had on her hips tighten. "The next time you decide the early hours of the morning are the best time to knock on my door -"

"I -"

"When you could have easily broached it any other time of the day." She grinned at him this time as she rocked against him. "So, wanna swap?"

A laugh finally escaped her as she found herself very quickly in the position she had been keeping him in, hooking her legs around his hips and a quick kiss to the side of his face before the real fun began.

* * *

><p>We had a couple of prompts like this and it was too funny to pass up.<p>

**Prompt:**_ "but that prompt earlier on the page about turians only being able to come if they have sex with a partner?_  
><em>begging, desperate!garrus just NEEDED to happen<em>  
><em>garrus learns that humans can get themselves off while doing research before hooking up with fem!shep in me2, and decides he might as well give it a shot, maybe he can take the breaking-a-dry-spell limitation off his stamina<em>  
><em>it works to an extent but he can't finish, no matter how badly he needs to. it's the middle of the night and shepard is asleep and they haven't tried this yet, but he needs help, pronto<em>

_tl;dr garrus shows up at fem!shep's door at 3am pleading her to fuck him"_


	12. Moments

**Moments**

Shepard couldn't hold back a smile as she watched Garrus raise his brow plates at Jacob before continuing on to her, "some women find facial scars attractive. Unfortunately, I think most of those women are Krogan."

"And who the fuck told you that?" She laughed, feeling the tension in her chest finally starting to alleviate.

"Wrex," Garrus told her, taking a few more steps forward, "remember how we had that conversation about how you 'prettied up your face?'" She nodded, grin widening on her face as her own words were tossed back to her, "you missed the part about how many females _his_ got him."

"Well, shit," Shepard said, "I start sniping geth and miss all the good parts of the story."

Jacob cleared his throat in an attempt to garner her attention, "I should, uh, leave you to it Commander."

Shepard gave him a nod, "get some sleep Taylor. Dismissed."

The man gave her a salute and walked out of the room, still looking slightly out of place.

"Now was that part true or did you just make it up to scare Jacob off?" Shepard asked as Garrus moved away from the door and towards her.

"All true, just ask Wrex."

"I think I can live without that information."

They stood in a comfortable silence before she just stopped thinking and did what she'd wanted to do since he'd taken his helmet off on Omega.

She walked forward and trying her best to avoid the multitude of injuries she knew he had down the left side of his body and pulled him into to a hug. Only a moment passing before he wrapped his arms tightly around her shoulders, and resting his chin lightly on the top of her head.

"It wasn't the same without you," she mumbled against his chest. He paused for a moment, realising that Chakwas hadn't been all that specific, he had no idea how long she'd _here_, been out here on the ship or - "the cargo bay was so empty and the mako just looked sad."

No, she wasn't talking about this ship at all.

"Is that because you drove it and left everything in disarray?"

"I forgot how fucking _funny_ you were, Vakarian," the little crack in her voice leading him to lean away, hands resting on the tops of her shoulders.

"You ok?"

"I think we've both had better weeks," she said, not quite able to meet his gaze, "you know, with less magical resurrection and dramatic gunship fights."

Garrus let out low laugh that quickly turned into a groan of pain, "magic?"

"Back to the med bay with you," Shepard said, moving around to his uninjured side and putting an arm around has back to lead him out. "and no, but I'm still a little blurry on the details. It's all a bigger discussion we need to have if you decide to stay."

"There's no _if_," he replied to her surprise, both in his answer and that he actually put an arm around her shoulders for support. Feeling her relax at his answer.

"Hang on," Shepard looked up at him, realising she _had_ to actually look up at him now, "since when did you get so big, tall, and intimidating?"

"Uh, well, vigilante work is quite different from a desk job," he mused, "and I'm almost thirty, how is the height change a surprise?"

"Are you telling me," Shepard started as they began to walk out of the comm room and back to the elevator, "that turians keep growing after adolescence?"

His good mandible flared into a half smile, "yes, until about our late thirties. You can generally get an idea of a turians age by their height, although there are always exceptions, of course."

"That explains a lot," she said as they walked around to the lift through the currently empty back of the CIC.

"This also explains why you're so small," Garrus prodded her.

"I am five foot eleven," Shepard shot back, "_decently_ good height for my species."

"You just keep telling yourself that," he said as the lift doors closed.

"I will."

He shifted just a little more of his weight on her shoulders, "you're perfect leaning height at least."

* * *

><p>Original prompt:<span><br>

_For humans as well as other mammals, touch is a necessary part of a healthy lifestyle. Babies thrive on it, and even as adults we crave gentle touch after a long time without it. I'd like to see Shepard getting stressed out and frazzled until she realizes what it is she needs, and asks her favorite guy to help her out. Either friendship or romantic involvement is fine. Other than not being an enthusiastic Kaidan-shipper, I don't have a preference. If you want to do a rarer pairing like Hackett, Vega, Wrex, or Cortez (if you go the friendship route). This can either be set in ME2 or ME3, because there are canon explanations of why Shepard hasn't been touched in a long time (dead/prison). _

_Please, anons? OP needs a hug something fierce._


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